Triangle Good Eats

I always feel strange when I go somewhere that people rave about and find it lacking. Makes me wonder what I’m missing. People rave about The Pit. It was recently named one of the Top 50 Best New Restaurants by Travel and Leisure Magazine. I really wanted to like it. But I was disappointed with my meal there. Nothing was bad, exactly, but nothing was great, either. And that was a letdown because I really love BBQ.

Before I went, I took a look at the menu online and a few things caused an eyebrow raise. Girly drinks? Tofu? Salads? What the what? I guess I’m just a purist. But I calmed myself down. For one, I like girly drinks. And for another, although I wouldn’t ever order salads or tofu there, it’s not such a bad thing for a BBQ place to ensure that if you drag a vegetarian friend along for the ride, they won’t go hungry.

The Pit certainly has ambience to spare. It’s housed in a really nice space, which is a first for me when it comes to eating BBQ. I’m used to my BBQ being served in little shacks, but hey, maybe this would be a nice change of pace.

I ordered the Scupperdine Sangria (with local wine, fruit, and club soda) and while it was tasty for the first few sips, it got watery fast. I guess that’s what I get for having a girly drink with BBQ!

We started with the fried green tomatoes, which came simply dressed with a pepper relish. They had a decent flavor, with a nice tang from the buttermilk they’d been soaked in, but these were some crunchy tomatoes. I wasn’t a big fan.

We were brought a basket of biscuits and hush puppies. My husband liked the biscuits, I found them boring, but I’ve mentioned my indifference to biscuits. Hush puppies were fine but not memorable.

I ordered the chopped pork platter, with sweet potato fries and collard greens. My husband got the pulled pork platter with creamed corn and black-eyed peas. The meats were really disappointing. The chopped pork was tender but a little dry and very bland. It tasted better when doctored with plenty of sauce, but that shouldn’t have been necessary. The pulled pork was even drier. The fries were good, but I’ve never met a sweet potato fry I didn’t like. Collard greens and creamed corn were good, the black-eyed peas nothing special.

What it comes down to is that the BBQ was a letdown. It may have just been an off night, but I was still really disappointed. I know where I’ve had the best BBQ in the Triangle so far (review in the future) and it sets the bar pretty high. But then I asked myself, if I needed to go someplace closer, would The Pit be the next best thing? And sadly, the answer is no. This will sound terrible, but the BBQ sandwich at the Cookout around the corner from me has more flavorful pork than what I had at The Pit. And it’s super cheap!

I will definitely revisit the Pit sometime and see if my experience was a fluke, but it may be a while. So many other places to go!

The Pit
328 W. Davie St.
Raleigh, NC 27601
(919) 890-4500

Tags: BBQ, Raleigh by Mary
1 Comment »

Last weekend the husband and I took a day trip to the coast, checking out Pleasure Island. Here’s a quick review of the places where we ate in Carolina Beach, for the next time you’re in that area.

We ate lunch at Gulf Stream Restaurant and it was a gem. Not a fancy place, but a good one. It’s been family-owned since 1978 and one of the owners, Joanne, was the person who rang up our bill.  The menu is eclectic – they serve breakfast all day, have sandwiches, pastas, and even a few Greek dishes, but our focus was on the seafood.

My husband got a combo platter of fried shrimp and scallops, which came with fries, coleslaw, and hush puppies. I got the crabcakes, which came with the same sides. The fries were just average, your standard frozen crinkle-cut fries. But everything else was great. The shrimp and scallops were tender and cooked just right. I’ve had a lot of bad coleslaw in my life so it was a relief that the coleslaw here was light and tasty. The hush puppies were really light, almost airy, and the taste was reminiscent of funnel cake. That’s a thumbs up.

But the star of the meal was the crab cakes. Not breaded or fried, just two very generous patties of crab meat that were perfectly seasoned and just barely held together. No fillers, just a lot of fresh, sweet crab. They were awesome.

Service was friendly and it was clear that, as advertised, this is where the locals dine. Almost everyone eating there knew each other. Highly recommended.

I had read in passing that there was a donut shop on the boardwalk so we went and checked it out and I am so glad that we did! Britt’s Donuts has been there since 1939. It’s only open during the summer, so don’t miss out. They serve exactly one kind of donut, at 75 cents each, milk, and soda. Simple as can be, which I think is delightful. Sit down at the counter and order, watch the donuts being made, and then try to stop yourself from eating dozens of the fresh, piping hot, glazed donuts. Just writing about them makes me want one!

We popped into Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar for a mid-afternoon snack and got a dozen oysters on the half shell. They were good, albeit very salty, but for all I know, that’s what East Coast oysters are like and this was my first encounter with them. On the down side, every single oyster I had was marred by bits of shell. Not good eats.

We did dinner at the Deck House. The Deck House has nice ambience, with a nautical theme, and is housed in a converted church. I ordered the seafood pasta, which was bowtie pasta with asparagus, mushrooms, tomatoes, shrimp, and scallops in a lobster cream sauce. The husband got one of the specials – tuna in a bleu cheese sauce with asparagus and shrimp. My entrée came with salad, which was nothing special, just the usual boring pile of iceberg lettuce and a few other veggies. The husband got the grouper chowder, which was tasty but very scant on the fish. Our bread basket was pretty standard.

As my husband pointed out, the saving grace for both our dinners were the sauces. My husband’s tuna was bland on its own, the shrimp overcooked, and the side of “Chef’s mixed vegetables” was your standard side of mushy, frozen vegetables. I hate those. But he loved the bleu cheese sauce.

The scallops and shrimp in my pasta were overcooked, which is a little hard for me to forgive. But the lobster cream sauce was rich and lovely, so I ate everything but the seafood (which is a waste!). The accompanying garlic bread was hard and dry.

If we were back in the area, I’d probably give Deck House another shot, but mostly because there’s slim pickings for restaurants in the area.

Gulf Stream Restaurant
78 Myrtle Ave.
Carolina Beach, NC
Cash Only

Britt’s Donut Shop
#11 Boardwalk
Carolina Beach, NC

Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar
6A N. Lake Park Blvd.
Carolina Beach, NC

Deck House
205 Charlotte Ave.
Carolina Beach, NC

Tags: Outside the Triangle by Mary
2 Comments »

I can’t believe I went the vast majority of my life not knowing the sublime pleasure that is banh mi. The first time I had one was in San Diego, after I saw a review of a little place inside Ranch 99 on someone’s food blog (thank God for food blogs!). I went, I ate, and was blown away. Best sandwich ever.

So what is banh mi? It is the oh so tasty result of French colonialism, a combination of crusty French bread and delicious Vietnamese ingredients. It took me a while to hunt down a good source in the Raleigh area, but luckily other people who are just as obsessed with the sandwich had done some legwork for me. I found a tip online that there was a banh mi place inside the An Chau Plaza.

There’s a little food court in the back of the building. There are three different vendor signs, but they all appear to be part of one restaurant. Go up to the Pho Tu Do sign for menus if you want to get them to go, which is what we do. The food court is a little stuffy and we love to take our sandwiches to the park.

Just how much will these beautiful sandwiches set you back? $2.50! The menu says $3.00 but it rings up for less. It’s an amazing deal. We got two of the Banh Mi Dac Biet (Special Combination French Sandwich) and an order of spring rolls ($2.95) to go. They also have pho, of course, which I’m going to have to go back and try, and an extensive list of bubble teas.

The sandwiches here are just as good, if not better, than the ones I loved in San Diego. Good bread is critical to a successful banh mi and this bread was excellent, with just the right amount of crustiness. This is not a good picture, but you get an overview of the contents – sliced pork, pate, mayonnaise, pickled daikon and carrots, cilantro, and slices of jalapeno. This has got to be the least boring sandwich you will ever taste. The cilantro and pickled vegetables add great crunch, brightness, and zing to balance out the savoriness of the pork. I eat mine without the jalapenos but my husband leaves his on and wants to point out that they add some noticeable heat. 

The springs rolls (filled with shrimp, pork, rice noodles, mint and lettuce) are good, light and refreshing.

I have heard rumors of other banh mi sources (Pho Cali, Pho 9n9, maybe Dalat Oriental, although people on Yelp refer to tofu subs. These are not subs, people!) and will have to investigate. But this is a great place for them and you can’t beat that price!

Pho Tu Do (inside An Chau Plaza)
2821 Brentwood Road
Raleigh, NC 27604
(919) 790-7884

Tags: Raleigh, Vietnamese, banh mi by Mary
6 Comments »

Big Ed’s City Market is a Raleigh institution and I’m glad I finally got a chance to check it out. It completely lived up to my expectations of hearty, down-home Southern food and hospitality. The place is packed with a charming hodgepodge of farm equipment and other kitsch hanging from the ceiling. Some might find it cheesy, but I love places like this. Red checkered tablecloths and bottles of molasses and vinegar with hot peppers add to the charm.

Big Ed’s serves breakfast all day and that was what I was in the mood for, while my husband opted for one of the blue plate specials. I’d say the most notable item on the menu was Brains and Eggs! I ordered one hot cake with country ham and the husband got the pork tenderloin special. His meal came with biscuits and cornbread, which came out first. I have to confess I’m not much of a biscuit lover, so take that into consideration when I say the biscuits were good but nothing earth-shattering. We plied them generously with the whipped spread (A minor disappointment. I know places have to cut costs somewhere but I’m always thrilled when a restaurant offers real butter.) and asked for a side of honey. I actually liked the cornbread better, it certainly tasted as it was made the way cornbread should be – with bacon grease in a cast iron skillet. Yum.

I was a little surprised at the price of my order ($8.40) but got over it when I saw the size of the portions. The hot cake was the size of the place and the slice of ham was huge. The hot cake was terrific, one of the best I’ve had in a long time, with those crispy edges that are so often missing from other pancakes. The ham was tasty but overwhelmingly salty.

My husband’s pork tenderloin was in big chunks served in gravy over rice and he got sides of creamed potatoes and baked apples. Not the most colorful of meals, but tasty nonetheless. The pork was super tender and bathed in some serious gravy. The potatoes and apples were good but the rice was almost superfluous.

At $7.19 for the pork with two sides, biscuits, cornbread, dessert, and beverage, the blue plate special is a very good deal. We chose the brownie for the dessert, which had to be taken home because the table was already groaning with food. The brownie was very rich, very sweet, and very good.

Service was efficient and friendly and the sweet tea was sweet as can be.

As I’d expected, this is not light food and Big Ed’s is not a place for calorie counters. But if rich Southern food is what you want, this is the place to go.

Big Ed’s City Market

220 Wolfe St.

Raleigh, NC 27610

(919) 836-9909

Closed Sundays

Tags: Raleigh, Southern, brunch by Mary
4 Comments »

One of the things I miss most about San Diego, where I lived for a year before moving here, is that you can’t turn around without running into a good taqueria. So finding a place to satisfy my taco cravings was pretty high on my priority list after arriving in Cary. I know there are quite a number of taquerias in Durham, which I’m looking forward to checking out, but happily I have a go-to spot that’s closer to home.

Tacos Mexico is in a modest brick building on Williams Street in Apex and is home to some superb tacos. The interior is cozy and colorful and service is friendly. Good chips and salsa and excellent queso, made with the good stuff. No Velveeta here. I’m also happy that they offer agua frescas (made with water, sugar, and fruit), a drink I became addicted to in San Diego.

The menu is extensive but I have to admit that I rarely order anything other than tacos. I did once try the enchiladas with verde sauce and did not find them to be memorable. Besides, the tacos are just so good. I’ve ordered them with sides of beans and rice, which were simply standard, so now I just order the tacos a la carte, which at $1.85 a pop, is a really good deal. I’ve tried the barbacoa (slow cooked, shredded beef), carnitas (shredded pork), and pastor (sliced pork). All are excellent, with juicy, tender, flavorful meat, but I have to say the pastor, with its subtle flavor of pineapple, is my favorite. They also offer lengua (tongue) for the more adventurous.

Each taco comes in a double layer of corn tortillas and is dressed only with onion and cilantro, the way a taco should be. You are not going to find layers of lettuce, sour cream, and cheese designed to mask the meat’s lack of flavor in your typical American-style taco.

Tacos Mexico is a local gem. Go get some tacos!

Tacos Mexico

209 E. Williams St.

Apex, NC 27502

(919) 362-8074

Tags: Apex, Mexican by Mary
10 Comments »